Values Ambassador Spotlight: Sareny Martinez

Value: Leadership | Nominated by: Rachel Willard-Waterhouse

For nearly six years, Sareny Martinez has been a familiar and dependable presence in Heartspring’s residential program, fulfilling a critical role as a third-shift team member.

When staffing challenges created additional pressure for Heartspring’s third-shift supervisors, Sareny saw firsthand how much they were balancing. Rather than standing on the sidelines, she offered to help.

Sareny voluntarily adjusted her schedule and stepped into additional responsibilities to help provide leadership coverage and support. According to her nominator, Residential Services Manager Rachel Willard-Waterhouse, Sareny helped organize coverage, problem-solve staffing concerns, support staff, and maintain communication with leadership — responsibilities that extended beyond her normal role as a direct support professional (DSP).

“If you can use me, I’ll do it,” Sareny said. “The supervisors were working so hard to maintain staffing across campus, and they needed a day off, too.”

Sareny wasn’t motivated by recognition or advancement. She just wanted to support the people she cares about and ensure that third shift continued to run smoothly for both students and staff.

It’s a big responsibility to take care of other people, especially other people’s children.

– Sareny Martinez

According to Willard-Waterhouse, Sareny’s willingness to serve others had a ripple effect throughout the organization.

“During a time when her team was without their usual supervisor support, she became someone her coworkers could rely on for guidance, communication, and assistance,” Willard-Waterhouse said.

By helping maintain stability and communication across shifts, Sareny helped ensure students continued receiving consistent care in an environment where relationships and routines matter deeply.

For Sareny, the most rewarding part of working at Heartspring has always been the students themselves. The students are the main reason she’s stayed longer than in any job before and why she says she’ll fight to stay here.

In one particular experience, Sareny shared that a former student who couldn’t communicate verbally was terrified of a daily routine most of us never think twice about. One day he took Sareny’s hand and placed her at the bathroom door, so she could stand guard while he went in.

“He trusts me,” Sareny said. “He saw me as a person who could guard the door and keep him safe, and that was a big moment for me.”

It’s this consistent support that makes Sareny such a valued member of Heartspring’s Residential Program. She helps students and staff connect, communicate, and collaborate by understanding their needs and working to fill any gaps.

Leadership can be found in the people who quietly make life easier for those around them, strengthen their teams, and step forward when additional support is needed. Through her dedication to coworkers, commitment to students, and willingness to go above and beyond her typical responsibilities, Sareny Martinez exemplifies exactly that kind of leadership.

At Heartspring, we value excellence, celebration, leadership, service, possibility, and integrity.

Our Values Ambassadors put Heartspring’s mission into action — going above and beyond to empower children to realize their full potential, support families, and help young people build skills for life beyond our campus.